Our view: Choices don’t warrant Sprague endorsement

Sprague residents have a choice for first selectman in this year’s municipal election, incumbent Democrat Cathy Osten and Republican challenger Edward “Buddy” Meadows.

Traditionally, The Bulletin has endorsed candidates in all elections, and readers in Sprague would expect us to render an opinion on this race.

We will not, and here’s why.

This newspaper has editorialized that public notices published in newspapers are an important element in keeping the citizenry informed. Yes, we earn a monetary gain from publishing public notices, but our belief in their importance goes well beyond the monetary benefit we derive.

Osten is hostile to keeping the public informed through published public notices in newspapers. Her effort as state senator to eliminate this vital method of keeping the public informed failed. If the bill had passed, as first selectman, she would be able to exercise that power to keep citizens in the dark, and that we cannot accept.

Her opponent does not instill in us the confidence to be an able steward for the town, so we cannot in good conscience endorse his candidacy. Nor do we feel compelled to make an endorsement.

There is a long tradition of newspapers endorsing political candidates, but there is also a more recent trend in some newspapers abandoning the endorsement process. The industry’s trade journal, Editor & Publisher, recently sparked a debate by suggesting: “Between accusations of biased coverage, waning power to influence readers, and the very real potential to drive away advertisers, newspapers are better off keeping their political endorsements to themselves.’

Readers have a right to know who “We” is. The opinions expressed on the Opinion page are a consensus of The Bulletin’s editorial board, consisting of the publisher, editor, editorial page editor and controller.

Just like any four person group, we have divergent opinions. Sometimes we agree, other times we have slight divergence and sometimes we are quite polarized, not unlike our great country.

We will continue to make endorsements that we believe are significant to our readers. There may also be exceptions.